


The Youngest

by 7cinnamonroses



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Attempt to keep an asshole three-dimensional, Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hux is Not Nice, Not in an Incesty way though!, Protective Siblings, Rey Hux Theory, Rey being left on Jakku, Rey thinks Armitage hangs the stars at night, Warning: Hux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 17:18:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12303876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/7cinnamonroses/pseuds/7cinnamonroses
Summary: Birrey Hux is the apple of her father’s eye. She likes learning, droids and doing magic tricks. But there’s nothing that makes her little heart happier than spending time with her big brother whom she adored most of all.





	The Youngest

**Author's Note:**

> I dedicate this to everyone I ever talked to about this theory and every person who put the Rey Hux Theory onto my tumblr dash.  
> This is solely a work done for the joy of suffering. I don't quite think Rey will turn out to be a Hux, but the idea is too interesting  
> –and painful– not to be entertained.

The shuttle had been completely destroyed.

Its mangled corpse, tilted to one side against a wall like a tired old man, had left the technicians in utter confusion since it had been in impeccable condition not 5 minutes ago. This incident was one in a line of recently more and more frequent incidents. All of them differed slightly in both degree of damage as well as the things that had been damaged.

All of them however had one common characteristic.

A very tiny, 5 year-old characteristic, currently clutching her big brother’s hand like an anchor. Her short legs made it hard to keep up with the imposing figure of the young man around 19. Little Birrey Hux had broken into a run to remain as close to Armitage as possible, usually feeling so much more protected at his side despite his harsh personality. There had been times the little girl had somehow felt that her brother wasn’t fond of her at all. Given her insistent and headstrong personality, Birrey only saw it as a challenge to make him fond of her.

She was aware of the fact that he was a big boy and big boys weren’t going to spend time with little girls. Her daddy had told her so when she had sat in his lap one night, crying because Armitage had left for an assignment and wouldn’t take her along no matter how much she begged. Her daddy had explained that she and Armitage had very different parts to play –what ever that meant!– and that she was his special little girl and that she had a much bigger role in the game they were playing.

Well, she liked games, she had told her father. But she didn’t want a bigger role than Tige! Why couldn’t they have equal parts? Surely the older boy would be sad if he was left out. She knew that she wasn’t happy whenever her daddy and Armitage left her behind. But her father had only kissed her forehead while chuckling.

“Your gifts surpass his, little girl.”

She had not liked that at all, but had kept it to herself.

All she knew was that when she grew up, she’d never leave Armitage! He was her big brother. Tall, strong and very, very clever, she was extremely proud of him. Instead of telling people that she was Brendol Hux’ daughter, she’d often inform people that she was Armitage Hux’ little sister and that he was already a Luten-Ant –whatever that was, but people had been very impressed when Armitage was been granted the title.

To her, there was no better person than her big brother. So it came as no big surprise that she would try to be useful to him. One day she’d inform him that he should not hesitate to have her convey messages and all day long she had run around their base, delivering messages. Sometimes she must’ve been too slow for her brother’s taste, because some of the officers told her that Armitage had already sent the messages via comm. It had caused her to run faster.

After they had left on the large spaceship they currently lived on, she’d hand him things like a little handmaid while he was getting ready for duty. On those days he would sometimes smile down at her. This was such a rare thing that happiness filled her tiny body every time and the first time it happened, her little arms wrapped around his waist… only to be told off for crumbling his uniform. Sure, that had been dumb of her! It was very important that Tige looked very nice when he was on duty.

Lately, he had decided that he’d join her while she played outside their rooms, which had made her ecstatic. Her brother –her big brother, pride of the First Order– had made time to play with her!

Sometimes he’d play along, sometimes he’d sit and watch as she showed him the little tricks she could do, eager to prove to him that she wasn’t a stupid, useless girl. She could do stuff! Surely, that’d cause him to keep spending time with her and –in the process– become as fond of her as she was of him. Birrey still somehow knew when he was getting impatient. How she did that, she did not know, but it was obvious to her. Every time, without fail she would then do one of her tricks and the impatience would stop. It never felt like Armitage was quite happy, but there was an emotion that was very close to it. For the moment, it was good enough! She could be patient!

There was reason to believe that he must like her, because when the accidents happened, he never told on her and instead he’d place a finger on his lips, said: Shhhh and off they went. She loved him for it. Her brother was no snitch!

Today, he had seemed shocked and Birrey was very, very worried that he might tell daddy about the ship she had… broken.

“Tige?” she chirped, her voice unsteady with worry. Was he mad? Would he tell father? “I am sorry I broke the ship… I didn’t mean for it to happen…” she continued, but he simply kept walking, not even sparing her a glance. Did he hate her now? She couldn’t understand the things that were going on inside of his head. She really hadn’t meant for he ship to be destroyed. She had only meant it to lift off the ground a little bit. Just a few inches. But when Armitage had suggested turning the ship, she had giggled. That would be funny! The techs would never be able to tell why the ship was turned.

She had never done anything like it before, but her big brother was watching. It had to work. He’d surely laugh along with her. It was so seldom that he laughed that she had trouble remembering what it sounded like. Birrey tried. Very hard. Too hard as it turned out, for one side of the ship gave in, denting in. In her shock, she dropped it with a loud bang.

Tige hadn’t laughed. Without a word, without the soft little “Shhh” that usually put her at ease he had walked her out of the hangar before the techs would come running to check what the commotion was about. His silence sent tears to her big hazel eyes.

“…I am sorry, Tige.” She told him miserably, tears now running freely down her face.

A sigh.

And suddenly he stopped walking, dropping to one knee in front of her. His ginger hair was still orderly combed back, but there was a little colour on his usually pale face. His hands came up to gently clutch her shoulders.

“Birrey, don’t cry. It was an accident, right?”

She nodded and so did he.

“So there’s nothing to be sad about is there? It was just a stupid shuttle anyway.” He told her, sounding almost kind.

Birrey’s little hands came together and she played with her own fingers.

“And no one was hurt!” she added, suddenly feeling so much better. She was far too young to understand that the emotion was called relief, but at that moment, that feeling flooded her heart.

With that, they walked on. She still held his hand as she was supposed to when they weren’t in their rooms. Daddy was always nervous that she might get hurt or lost when they were on spaceships.  

“Will you tell daddy, Tige?” she asked, voicing her final discomfort.

The tall boy looked down at her.

“I’m afraid there might have been cameras, Rey. It is better we tell him before he finds out, right?”

“He’ll get mad!” she panicked, new tears in her eyes. Daddy had told her not to play her tricks outside their rooms. It was their secret.

“We’ll explain it to him, sweetheart.”

“I… I don’t know…”

“Are you nervous about explaining it to him?” he inquired kindly and the little girl nodded. She wasn’t so good with her words yet!

“How about I explain it to father, then? I’ll tell him we were only playing and that it was nothing but an accident. Don’t worry, I’ll fix it, Rey.”

And then he smiled that really, really nice smile of his.

It always caused her to smile as well, no matter how sad she was.

When she hugged him this time, he didn’t even tell her to be careful of his uniform. He even patted her head.

Her big brother was the best!

Thoroughly calmed down, she entered the set of rooms they lived in. Their father stood in the middle of the room. His rather big belly was heaving, his face was red with fury and for the first time in her life, Birrey was scared of her father. He was always kind to her, though she knew that he had to be very strict with others because of his job. Now she understood why some people were scared of him and she immediately moved to hide behind her brother.

“Father.” Armitage greeted. There was no fear in his voice and she admired him for it. The man before them bore no resemblance to the man who always tugged her in at night.

“Birrey, go to your room.” Brendol Hux growled. When the little girl looked up to her brother for guidance, he startled her when he snapped: “NOW!”

As fast as her legs could carry her, she made her way over to her room, not daring to even look at her father. When the door of her room slid closed, she started to cry. It was all her fault that their father was mad. When she heard yelling and a loud smack from the other side of the door, her little heart broke.

Her poor big brother deserved a better sister than her. Miserably, she crawled into her bed and hid beneath her blanket. Tiny hands clutched over her ears to keep her father’s angry voice out.

 

\--

 

She had been a nuisance from day one! The mother had been a prisoner. Whether she had attempted to seduce his father to be given her freedom or if Brendol had instigated their union, he did not know, nor did he care. He suspected that his father wasn’t above rape and while it only strengthened his disgust, Armitage Hux only considered the outcome. A little baby girl. Another bastard.

This wouldn’t have been so bad, had she not been so terribly favoured for some reason. For the first years of her life, it was beyond the boy as to why exactly she was deemed worthy of such good treatment. His own childhood had been filled with rules, harsh treatment and even harsher punishment whenever he failed to fulfil his father’s expectations.

One day however, he overheard a conversation that told him everything.

Birrey was force sensitive.

This ridiculous old belief in powers that were beyond any logic had eventually cost the old Empire its Emperor. Still, his father seemed to view it as something that would be important. Maybe he though Birrey would grow up to rule the galaxy.

Armitage had always been dismissive of his sister’s existence, but when he realised that their father not only favoured the snivelling brat, but would also support her to become ruler of the galaxy, a burning hatred took hold of him.

He, Armitage, was supposed to rule the galaxy!

They all had told him so.

He was the one who had worked hard to become worthy, to overcome his own meekness and now some toddler replaced him, just because she was capable of some magic tricks.

They’d pay!

Both of them!

So he had started to scheme. Gaining the pitifully naïve girl’s trust had been easy. She had always attempted to spend time with him anyway. She adored him. Which only angered him further. If she, someone as simple minded as her, could see his worth, why did their father refuse to?

Her attempts to get him to like her incensed him further and every time he forced himself to show some kind of affection for her, he reminded himself that it was only a matter of time that he might get rid of her, making it look like an accident.

It did feel wrong sometimes. When she was determined to help him, when she told their father that Armitage was the ‘cleverest’ person she knew.

Killing her would be like drowning an infant and while he always forced down any shred of sympathy by remembering his father’s treatment of him, it always left a foul taste in his mouth. He hated that remnant of sentimental weakness.

When they were scheduled to leave their home base and Birrey was allowed to accompany their travels to a rendezvous with one of their alleys, he knew he’d have to act during that trip.

The creature wasn’t one to be bored. She was too simple to be, happy with the smallest and most insipid tasks like fixing a broken comm or trying her hand at building and programming small droids. Once she thought nobody was close she would float little pieces of metal around the room. When he first saw it, he had flinched.

The girl would soon become too remarkable an opponent to allow her to grow further. But she needed to trust him more than their father first.

During their journey he accompanied her for her playtime –she too already had a schedule, learning to read and write. He’d encourage her to show him her tricks and without fail he’d look impressed with her, causing the little girl to become bolder.

It had only been a matter of time before she’d break something and finally that day had come.

While the extend of her capabilities had shocked him, he decided to focus on his goal. The ship had been destroyed. Too bad nobody had been hurt. It would’ve only added to her guilt and his position of support to her cause. He knew that he would be the one to be punished. Anticipating the physical repercussions, he didn’t even blink when his father’s fist hit him in the face.

All was coming along just as he had planned.

And now she owed him.

But he needed a little more time. They were still too far away from any planet where he could get rid of her in peace. He needed to be sure that she’d trust him without thinking. So, when she came to his room in the middle of the night after he had taken the punishment he laid very still, faking sleep.

“Tige?” she whispered tentatively, careful not to wake their father. When he didn’t answer it was very silent in the room and he feared that she might’ve lost courage and would leave again. Then however, his mattress dipped and he frowned. What was she doing?

He felt the bed shift beneath her as she crawled up towards him, shaking him gently.

“Armitage?” she repeated, a bit louder, but still very softly.

He pretended to stir.

“Rey?” he called. “What’s wrong?”

There was a pause.

“Are you okay?” she wondered, her voice very careful as if she was scared to anger him. “Did father hurt you? It is my fault, I am so sorry.”

He sneered in the dark.

“Birrey… I think father would appreciate it if we were not to spend time with one another for a few days.”

Her desperation was imminent.

“No!” her thin arms flew around his chest. “Please, I am sorry!”

He forced himself to be gentle while he removed her from his person.

“I know. But father is very angry.”

“I’ll explain to him that it was my fault!” she told him and he schooled his face into sadness before he turned on the light next to his bed.

When light had filled the room, the little girl gasped in shock. He couldn’t blame her. The black eye he sported wasn’t a nice sight.

She started crying and made to hug him again.

While she was weeping, he held onto her shoulders, keeping her away and yet appearing to be close. He’d be damned if he got snoot on his pyjamas!

“I…” sob “am so…” another sob “sorry, Tige!”

They’d both be sorry if she kept it up.

“Rey…” he sounded so gentle he almost made himself sick. “Father is very angry right now. And he’ll hurt me again if we spend time together. You are too young to be punished. I’ll be the one to suffer… do you want him to hurt me again?”

She violently shook her head, swearing that no, of course she didn’t.

In the end, he had convinced her to stay away from him. She still cried when she left the room and he tried not to feel bad. Looking into the mirror helped.

Over the next couple of days, he began to prepare.

They were going to meet the Order’s ally close to Jakku. Here, nobody would suspect the remnants of the Empire to conduct business. The agreed on planet had angered his father, feeling slighted. Armitage understood only too well. It had been here that his father had suffered his most devastating defeat. It was almost delicious seeing his discomfort. Knowing that Brendol Hux’ little girl would find her end on Jakku just like the man’s other aspirations was too wonderful a coincidence to be ignored.

He felt favoured by destiny.

The violence he had suffered from, his father never being as fond of him as he was of the girl… they’d pay.

He only had a small window of opportunity to put his plan into effect. Hurry was of the essence.

Birrey was in her room, working on her droid when he entered, grinning. Their father had left an hour ago. He’d be gone for around 5 hours and wasn’t likely to return. Even if she was gone he’d probably not wonder about it. The little animal loved to roam.

“Armitage!” she squealed when she saw him and before he knew it, she hugged him tight. “I’ve missed you so much!”

He had seen to it that they would not meet for about a week. It would make his task easier. Her delight at seeing him, her sadness over losing him had stirred something unthinkable inside of his heart. The wrongness of his endeavour had eaten at him for a few days now.

But he knew: it was either him or her! Brendol would set him aside, maybe go so far as to kill him eventually. She had to go! There was no other way.

“Look! This is AH-01. I gave him your initials.” She told him shyly, pointing at the droid. It was a rather large construction. It was obviously a first try, but a rather good one at that. “I still need to program him, but isn’t he beautiful?”

He assured her that it indeed was a nice work, but he had no time to loose.

“Birrey, wouldn’t you like some fresh air?” he offered and her eyes grew wide. The notion excited her, but soon she seemed worried.

“Won’t father be mad?” she asked, biting her bottom lip and frowning.

He chuckled.

“No worries! He suggested it, you know?!”

The did away with her second thoughts and she danced and jumped around him with joy.

“We’ll go down to Jakku! It is very warm and sunny there.”

Her eyes sparkled and soon they left for the ship he had prepared. He had seen to it that one of his personal guards saw to it that the cameras and the system would not register his departure. The hangar was empty and nobody would be any the wiser that the young Hux children would leave the ship.

As they made their way down towards the planet, Birrey could barely contain her excitement. He turned towards her.

“You know… Jakku is a very poor planet. I am worried what might happen if we look too rich. Someone might want to abduct you!”

That seemed to scare her and would ensure that she’d stay by his side and do as she was told without question.

“I brought some clothing along we both should change into. We’ll dress up as beggars!” he joked, hoping she’d see sense. He needn’t have worried. The girl loved to play pretend and costumes always helped with that. When she had changed into she brown rags, she looked expectantly at him, waiting for him to change too. Indulging her, he quickly got out of his uniform and changed into what he had brought for himself. The material was scratchy. She gaped when he was finished.

“You don’t look like yourself, Tige!”

There was a note of respect in her voice. Honest awe. His stomach dropped and he swallowed. Hard.

Glancing at her with her hair down, he reached for her.

“Let me put your hair up, Birrey. It is very hot down there and it will be worse with your hair down.”

That excited her further and patiently, without moving, she allowed him to pull her brown hair into three little buns of hair. He really wasn’t proficient in the department of making hairstyles for girls, but well, he doubted he’d ever have to do it again.

Another pang, this time in his heart.

This was wrong., something inside of him informed him.

Was it her fault, that their father was a monster?, the voice urged.

“Tige?” her voice suddenly sounded very small, but serious. Quite unlike her.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I am sorry dad hit you. I should have told him it was my fault.”

His heart clenched.

“I will not let him hit you again, big brother. I’ll protect you.”

Something he had thought long dead took control. It made him embrace the little girl, almost caused him to turn around. Tell her he had made a mistake and that they’d go another day.

But no. He had come too far. A cold grasp forced the feeling back down. She’d only be in the way! She had to go!

“I… It’s alright, Rey!” he croaked. “It wasn’t your fault.”

She met his gaze as they landed on Jakku’s burning sands, close to the settlement of Niima. The seriousness was still there and suddenly she seemed much more than a child.

“Yes, it was! I will not make the tricks anymore, not even for daddy if he hurts you again. I have thought very hard about it.”

She reached for his hands, which were shaking for some reason. For the first time in years he felt like crying and he didn’t understand why.

“I love you, big brother!”

 

\--

 

He had told her that their father had been taken hostage. That it was far too dangerous for her to return to the ship. She had begged him to stay. Surely he’d get hurt.

She begged him no to go as he left her with an ugly Crolute called Unkar Plutt. Armitage had paid the creature to take care of the girl.

In the end he hadn’t been able to kill her, but taking her back home was too much. Their father would blame him for her headstrongness. He’d be the one to be punished. Brendol would sooner strangle his eldest than dance to the tune of a 4 year old. It would be her first punishment and his last.

It couldn’t happen.

As her voice, her begging desperate voice, hit his retreating back he pretended not to care. Tried his best to disregard every feeling.

He’d have died!

She’d have doomed them both!

It had to be done!

She was alive!

 

\--

 

The room was blackened. All the toys burnt to dust, the bedframe melted. The explosion hadn’t left a lot to work with.

Without a doubt, the girl had worked on her droid again, made a critical mistake and caused the machinery to blow up. Parts of her DNA were found, a few shreds of the clothes she had worn that morning were picked up.

A tragic accident.

Birrey Hux was proclaimed dead while a little girl cried herself to sleep on the planet below.

Their father was too busy being furious to grieve. The girl had been the perfect tool and now that perfect tool had blown itself sky-high.

If anyone noticed the younger Hux starring out of the viewing plane the day they departed Jakku, nobody wondered about it.

The boy had never appeared to care about anyone, but lately him and the little girl had been inseparable. The crew believed that he had cared deeply about the youngest Hux.

Poor boy.


End file.
